Seeing Patients in Clinic

At U of I, at least here is Rockford, we have what is called a Family Medicine obligation. For us second year medical students (M2s), that means we spend one half day a week in the clinic. We started this even before we had completed all of our work for History and Physical Examination knowledge.

As we continue to work, we are learning things about how to interview a patient, write-up a report, diagnose problems, and prescribe medication. Epocrates is my friend. Epocrates is this fabulous application for PCs, Macs, Blackberrys, iPhones, etc. It's so useful. If you want to check it out, go to http://www.epocrates.com/. This site has everything you could possibly need to get through clinic as a medical student.

I used it today to diagnose a patient. Of course, I had to have the basic clinical knowledge. I had a thought of what her diagnosis might be. I pulled out my Blackberry, hopped on Epocrates, and looked up the disease. I was informed of the basic symptoms, what I'd see on exam, and expected patient history. I was told about the best ways to treat it, drug interactions, and counterindications. That's just the tip of the iceberg. If you are going to go to medical school or join the medical profession, get Epocrates.

I am just really enjoying the experience though. Each new experience (at least the ones where the woman is pregnant or needs a pap smear) brings me closer to realizing that I'm interested in OB for real. This makes me happy. I'm just the kind of person that gets happy when at the end I want the same thing I wanted in the beginning.